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Labour expels Jewish anti-Zionist Tony Greenstein

Tony Greenstein with supporters outside his hearing in Brighton on Sunday. (Tony Greenstein)

The Labour Party on Sunday expelled prominent Jewish anti-Zionist Tony Greenstein, citing his allegedly abusive language and his criticism of leading pro-Israel figures in the UK’s main opposition party.

A disciplinary panel expelled Greenstein for what it claimed was online abuse.

But Greenstein disputes this and says the real reason was that he has spoken out against the Israel lobby within the Labour Party.

“I expected it,” he told The Electronic Intifada after his expulsion.

He said that he had been “overwhelmed by the number of supportive messages, so I shall be fighting from outside” and would press for membership reinstatement.

Greenstein is vice-chair of Labour Against the Witch-hunt, a group set up to combat what it calls a “witch-hunt against Corbyn supporters and critics of Israel” in the Labour Party.

Their claims that Labour is now “institutionally anti-Semitic,” have been been based on exaggerated and fabricated allegations of anti-Semitism.

Expelled for criticizing Israel lobby

Although the disciplinary panel that expelled Greenstein claims it was not because of his views, a Labour Party document seen by The Electronic Intifada suggests otherwise.

Written on behalf of the party’s National Executive Committee by party lawyer Thomas Ogg, the main thrust of the document is that Greenstein should be expelled for using the term “Zio,” which it contends is an anti-Semitic epithet.

But it also suggests Greenstein should be expelled for a blog post he wrote criticizing Louise Ellman – a Labour lawmaker with a long history of supporting Israel.

The article – written months after Labour suspended Greenstein in 2016 – described Ellman as an “apologist for Israel’s occupation forces” and a “supporter of Israeli child abuse.”

This systematic abuse is cause for such concern that more than 20 members of the notoriously pro-Israel US Congress have cosponsored a bill to outlaw US aid to Israel being used for the military detention, abuse and torture of Palestinian children.

However, according to the lawyer Ogg, the blog post was “an attempt to shame Ms. Ellman” using “provocative, inaccurate and offensive” language – and was therefore grounds for expulsion.

The “offensive” language Ogg points to is Greenstein’s contention that Ellman is a “supporter of Israeli child abuse.”

Ogg claims this phrase is inaccurate, despite the fact Ellman was clearly speaking in defense of the detention practices of an occupation army with a well-documented track record of abusing Palestinian children.

Double standard?

One of those Greenstein is accused of verbally abusing is Ella Rose, a former Israeli embassy officer who is now director of the Jewish Labour Movement.

Rose was herself the subject of a complaint by party members last year after she was caught on camera stating that her critics should “die in a hole” and saying she could “take” one of them down in hand-to-hand combat.

Yet the same party bureaucracy that expelled Greenstein treated Rose with kid gloves, closing the matter without disciplinary action – a result one complainant called a “whitewash.”

The procedure of suspending and eventually expelling Greenstein also appears to lack due process.

In the document, Labour’s lawyer admits that “all of the charges relate to conduct after Mr. Greenstein’s suspension from the Labour Party on 18 March 2016.”

In other words, the National Executive Committee suspended Greenstein first, then sought out evidence later.

As The Electronic Intifada reported at the time, in the suspension letter Greenstein received he was told only that it related to “comments you are alleged to have made.”

Greenstein asked to see the allegations against him, but his request was denied, as was his request to know who his accusers were.

Trial by press

The lawyer’s 22-page document – which Greenstein says was provided to him less then two days before his hearing – formed the outline of the case against him on Sunday.

That document was in turn based on a larger 189-page bundle of supporting evidence. A lot of time and effort was clearly expended on removing Greenstein from the party.

Although the insinuations apparently leaked to the press were all about Greenstein’s supposed anti-Semitism, the document mostly drops that allegation to concentrate on alleged online abuse.

But the party’s lawyer concedes in the document that it was not a case about “whether Mr. Greenstein is an anti-Semite.”

As Greenstein stated on his blog, “throughout my 22 months suspension the goal posts have been continually changed.”

Hypocrisy

Greenstein’s expulsion, along with the upcoming hearing against Marc Wadsworth, are thought by many activists to be the prelude to a new attempt to expel former mayor of London Ken Livingstone when his current suspension expires in April.

Greenstein said, “it’s incumbent on Momentum and [their chairperson Jon] Lansman and the rest of the left to actually start standing up to” the witch-hunt – “clearly the apartheid regime is working through its agents to pursue this.”

Momentum is the grassroots Labour group established to support Jeremy Corbyn.

Greenstein criticized the Labour bureaucracy for attacking him and other prominent activists on the left for alleged abuse, while refusing to take action on abuse of the left from the right of the party.

Led by general secretary Iain McNicol, the party bureaucracy has also refused to take any action against Jeremy Newmark, the now-disgraced former chair of the Jewish Labour Movement.

Comments

Greenstein is better off without them. He follows in the honored tradition of George Galloway. Where is a Respect Party when one needs it?

The purges at Labour Party is making someone happy, though. Zionazi Dave, "the dirtbag from down under", who believes that by channeling Crocodile Dundee people will not notice the huge white cone shaped hood ornament atop his pointy little empty head, is in complete euphoria over it.

Zionists (whoever they are) don't dominate Labour's staff and executive, and Jeremy's leadership is threatened by no-one in particular.
I'm Jewish. Let's get a few things clear. Zionism was a Jewish, but secular and socialist, movement. It no longer exists, in its original form. It certainly shouldn't be used as a cheap insult. When it is, it's perceived by many Jews as antisemitic - especially when it's used in forms such as 'zio' and 'zionazi'.
The Israeli government now and for many years has treated Palestinians in a disgusting, unacceptable way. Many Jews oppose it, and support the aspirations of the Palestinian people.
However, there's a problem: that support does not extend to driving Jews out of Israel/Palestine or to accepting the views of an organisation (Hamas) that has accepted the Protocols of the Elders of Zion - a demonstrably false and antisemitic document - as part of its constitution.